


Cartilage.

by BornofFlame



Series: Sanders Sides One Shots [53]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Autistic Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, LOOK I DIDNT KILL VIRGIL LIKE I NORMALLY DO, Multi, Parental Roman, and it's never mentioned again lmao, but he makes money, emile is a therapist, idk what remy does, roman is a good dad, roman is a nurse, virgil gives patton a moral breakdown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28007895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BornofFlame/pseuds/BornofFlame
Summary: Roman encounters a small teen during a traumatic event.well, prepare to be adopted.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders
Series: Sanders Sides One Shots [53]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878814
Comments: 14
Kudos: 122





	Cartilage.

**Author's Note:**

> hey, I didn't kill Virgil this time...  
> are you proud of me?  
> (probably not lmao)
> 
> enjoy!  
> -ky

“Prince, we need a nurse in trauma room one, go!”

Roman looked up and nodded, speed walking to the trauma room, running into an anesthesiologist, who was flipping through a tablet.

“Do you know who’s in there?”

“No, but there was a bad wreck on I-37, father and son are coming in, it should be one of them.” She turned. 

Roman nodded and they broke apart, with her heading to the other trauma room and Roman going to wash and put on the sterilized gear. He was getting inside the room right as two paramedics came wheeling in a teen on a stretcher.

“Fractured ribs and possible collapsed lung, he’ll need surgery.” One said and Roman nodded, helping transfer him to the table.

The room was dead silent as nurses and doctors worked, Roman quietly helping as the lung was reinflated and they stitched up a few smaller cuts on his face and chest.

When it was all over, Roman helped transfer him into a room.

“What’s his name?”

“Virgil Alt, fourteen.” The other nurse said as he wrote it down and placed the clipboard in it’s holder at the edge of the bed. “His father died while in surgery.”

Roman looked at the small body, swamped by machines and bandages. “Poor thing.”

“CPS will probably be here once he wakes up…” The nurse trailed off. 

…

_ Two hours earlier _

_ “Dad?” _

_“Yes Virgil?”_ _  
_ _“Isn’t it kinda dangerous to be driving in the snow? I mean, we did have a snow day because of it.” Virgil looked up from his seat on the passenger side._

_ Logan sighed. “We’ve talked over this before. The roads have been cleared now, and I wouldn’t be taking us anywhere if I wasn’t absolutely certain that we would be in danger.” _

_ Virgil nodded and turned the radio on. “Sorry for being nervous.” _

_ “It’s perfectly fine to show concern. It is late at night and there has been an increase in car accidents.” _

_ Virgil hummed and pulled a rubix cube from his hoodie, relaxing as Logan snuck a glance at his son. _

_ “I love you Virgil.” _

_ “I know Dad, you get so sappy at the most random times.” Virgil didn’t look up at his cube and Logan smiled before returning his gaze to the road. _

_ Sure, it was dark and late, but they would be fine. _

_ Unfortunately the semi that hit the patch of black ice would prove otherwise. _

...

Roman got home around midnight, quietly creeping to the bedroom that he shared with his husbands, being careful as he got changed out of his scrubs and climbed into bed to join Remy and Emile.

Both were already asleep, thankfully, Roman hated it when they waited up for him and so he threw an arm over Remy and pulled the comforter back over him as his breathing settled.

Poor kid. Roman wished that he could get out the thought, he’d seen plenty of people die during his time as a nurse, but this was his first time with a child losing his family.

Hopefully he had another relative that he would wake up to.

…

Virgil woke up in extreme pain, head feeling fuzzy as he attempted to sit up, only to have a hand at his shoulder, gently pushing him back.

“Hey kiddo. You had a bit of a rough night, so you need to lay back, okay?”

Virgil nodded. “Where am I?” He turned his head to see a cheery looking man with curly hair writing something down.

“Hospital. You got into a bad wreck last night. We had to fix your lungs and give you some stitches.”

Virgil could vaguely remember last night and he blinked slowly. “Where’s my dad?”

The man pursed his lips. “I’m not sure. Probably in a separate recovery room. I’ll have to ask around.”

Virgil nodded and settled back. “Everything hurts.”

“We’ll get you some medicine, okay?”

“Thank you.”

“Just doing my job kiddo. You’ll be back to normal in no time.” The man smiled softly. “I’m Patton.”

“Thank you Patton.”

…

Roman danced around the kitchen, Remy sneaking from his spot on the counter and Emile already sitting at their table, the only one completely ready for the day as he took a drink of his tea.

“I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream!” Roman sang as he approached Remy and tapped him on the nose.

“Ew babes, you know I hate the mushy stuff.”

“That’s not what you said this morning when you were trying to convince Emile to not get out of bed.” Roman teased as he turned back to the stove and flipped the French Toast that he was making.

“It was cold!” Remy complained and Roman gave an easy laugh.

“Sure love.”

Remy stuck out his tongue at him, before moodily picking up his coffee and taking a sip.

“Ro, what shift do you have today?” Emile called.

“Noon to five.” Roman put the French Toast on a plate and handed it to Remy, dipping the next two slices of bread into the egg mixture he had.

“I get off at six, should we do a date night tonight?” Emile looked at the pair and Remy nodded.

“I just have to email a few people and then I’m done with work, so I can do the planning if you guys are okay with that.”

Roman flipped the toast again. “Sounds great.”

…

Patton sighed quietly once Virgil fell back asleep. He didn’t want to be the one to break it to the teen that he was alone in the world now. 

Lying to him was wrong, but he didn’t know what else to do. Patton checked the vitals again before leaving the room, nearly running into a fellow nurse, Roman.

“Hey Popstar!” Roman smiled at him as he sidestepped and Patton gave him a weak grin back.

“Hey Ro.”

“Is the kid okay?”

“For now, we still haven’t broken the news to him though… I don’t want to be the one to do it.”

Patton sniffed a bit and Roman held out his arms, welcoming the other into his embrace. “It’ll be alright, he has family to take care of him.”

Patton shook his head. “No he doesn’t. It’s just him and his dad.”

Roman exhaled slowly. “Oh.”

…

Virgil decided that he didn’t like the hospital. No one was telling him where his dad was, most people just gave him sad looks and said that they didn’t know where he was.

So he took it into his own hands after the nurse left him, saying that she’d be back if he needed anything.

He kicked away the tight sheets and winced as the pain in his ribs flared as he moved to stand. Virgil didn’t let that deter him though as he pulled the IV along with him, being careful as he detached everything else like how he’d seen the nurse do when she let him have a bathroom break. Nothing went off, which was good, and Virgil walked unsteadily to the door of his hospital room and pushed it open, the IV rolling next to him.

The hallway was surprisingly empty as the teen wandered down in, looking through the windows of every room as he looked for his father.

“Dad?”  
Nothing. Virgil took a deep breath as he turned down another hall, bare feet quiet on the cool floor. 

He was passing another door when a nurse came out, looking startled. “Hey, what are you doing up little guy?”

Virgil tilted his head to the side. “Looking for my dad, his name’s Logan Alt and people keep telling me he’s here but not where.”

The nurse’s face crumpled. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Why?”

…

Roman was finishing up with a patient when a scream rocked the floor that he was on, a horrible, heart wrenching thing that clearly communicated that whoever was the source was in pain.

He rushed out into the hall, looking for the source and seeing that one of his coworkers was trying to hold down a thrashing child as the kid screamed.

Not a child.

Virgil.

He must have found out about his father. Roman hurried over to the other nurse and laid a hand on his shoulder.

“If you keep trying to hold him down, he could collapse a lung again.”

Virgil screamed again as the nurse let go and he curled up into a ball, still sobbing as the screaming died down. Roman reached out a tentative hand to rest on Virgil’s collarbone.

_ “DON’T TOUCH ME!” _ Virgil yelled and Roman recoiled, an apology on his lips as he backtracked in his mind.

Virgil shuddered and let out another sob as a few more nurses entered the hall, seeing the three people on the ground. Patton was among them and Roman watched as the teen’s eyes locked onto the nurse.

“You lied to me! You said he was okay!” Virgil struggled to sit up as he pointed. “You said “You’ll be back to normal.” and my dad’s dead now!”

Roman could feel the tension as if it was another person, and Patton’s eyes filled with tears.

“I’m sorry kiddo…”

“STOP! I  _ DON’T _ LIKE  _ LIARS _ !!!” Virgil screamed and then the solution to the problem practically slapped Roman in the face.

“Virgil. Look at me.”

The teen let out a shuddering breath and turned his head to Roman, refusing eye contact. Roman reached out his hands, keeping his palms up.

“We’re gonna count to ten, together okay?”

“I don’t want to…”

“Please? We need to make sure that you can breathe. I’ll start. One.”

“Tt..two.” Virgil stuttered out as gasping sobs ran through him. Roman smiled softly.

“Good job. Three.”

“Four.”

Virgil crawled a bit closer, still avoiding eye contact as he took more breaths. “Five.”

“Six.”

Virgil placed his hands on top of Roman’s, looking at the wedding band that the man had on. “Seven.”

“Almost there Virgil. Eight.”

“Nine.”

“And ten.” Roman exhaled and gently wrapped his hands around Virgil’s “Can I help you walk back to your room, I don’t want you to get anymore hurt.”

“Okay…”

Roman helped him stand and then pulled the IV out of his arm carefully. “Do you want me to hold your hand?”

“Yeah… Really tight though, please?”

“Of course.” Roman tightly gripped Virgil’s hand. “Any other touch no’s that we need to know?”

Virgil silently shook his head, and Roman noted that there were still tears streaming down his face as the nurse led him back to his room. He helped him back into the bed and hooked him up.

“Did you get out yourself?”

“Yeah.”

Roman whistled. “Impressive kiddo.”

“Don’t call me that.” Virgil's voice was sharp and Roman nodded. “It’s okay, I’m sorry.”

“Liar called me that, why did he lie to me?”  
Roman looked up to see that the teen was making eye contact, storm grey eyes filled with misery and hurt.

“I don’t think that Patton meant to hurt you Virgil.”

Virgil hissed and looked away again, starting to cry again. “My dad’s not coming back…”

Roman finished with the replacement IV and reached forward to card a soothing hand through Virgil’s hair. “I’ll make sure that you’re taken care of, promise. I know that your dad can’t come back, but there’s a lot of people here that care about you.”

“Promise?”

“Yes.”

…

Emile and Remy both got calls from their husband that he wouldn’t be able to come home in time for the date and that he had something to discuss with them when he did.

Naturally both were concerned and waited up for Roman to return, which he did around eleven thirty, not surprised to see them both on the couch.

“Hey loves.”

“Is everything okay Ro?” Remy asked as Roman sat down in the beanbag, instead of going to the couch.

“Not really. Bad work stuff.”

“What happened?” Emile said as he leaned forward and offered his husband a tissue.

“There was a bad car wreck yesterday night, father and son got plowed off of the road by a semi… Uh, the father died.”

Remy gasped and Roman sniffed, wiping at his tears. “We were all trying to figure out how to tell him and he didn’t take it well. I’ve never heard such a heartbreaking scream. No relatives and he’s slightly autistic and I promised that I’d make sure he was safe. I can’t break that.” Roman started to cry as Remy and Emile got off the couch, wrapping their husband in a hug as he sobbed.

“Hey, it’s okay.” Remy soothed as he pressed a kiss to Roman’s hairline. “We’ll do anything to help, okay?”

Emile nodded. “If he needs a home, you know that we’ll give him the best one he can get.”

Roman let out a watery laugh. “Seas and stars, I love you two so damn much.”

“I should hope so, you fucking married me.” Remy responded.

…

Virgil hated change.

New house, new people feeding him and new smells hit him all at once when Roman finally said he could leave the hospital.

He didn’t like Patton still, but he promised not to hiss at the nurse when he came in anymore.

Some weird lady had led him out of the hospital, saying that she was part of the government and that Virgil could call her ‘mom’ if he wanted to.

He didn’t.

She had taken him to Dad’s and his house, and he had had an hour to pack all of his stuff.

Someone else would take Dad’s stuff, but Virgil had managed to take Dad’s favorite tie and his book collection with him.

Now he was sitting in the lady’s car as she chattered happily about something that he wasn’t paying attention to.

He wanted Dad. Dad smelled like books and he let Virgil learn about stars and sailor culture, and taught him how to use rubix cubes.

But Dad wasn’t an option anymore. The lady had told Virgil that there was gonna be a funeral on Saturday and then after that, he was going to meet his new family.

Virgil tucked his head against his chest and quietly let himself cry.

...  
Emile was nervous as he adjusted his tie and sweater again, looking at the door.

“Babes, con calma, they’re not going to be here for at least another ten minutes.”

It was Saturday afternoon and Roman had gotten a call that Virgil would be arriving with a social worker within the hour and so Emile had made sure that everything was as calming as it could be.

The poor kid, having to go to a funeral and then change houses all in the same day.

There was a knock and Emile surged forward, pausing before he could fling the door open.

“Ro, they’re here!”

“Okay! I’m coming down!”  
Emile opened the door to see the social worker, with Virgil behind her, slouched over as if he was trying to take up as little space as possible.

“Roman?” The social worker grinned and Emile let out a nervous laugh.

“Ah no, that’s my husband. I’m Emile.”

“My apologies. May we come in?”

Emile turned to the side and let them in, smiling softly at Virgil, who pointedly looked away after making eye contact.

“Roman?”

“Nah, I’m Remy, Roman’s other spouse. Take a seat on the couch, Roman will be down in a minute.”

Virgil didn’t sit and Emile sat next to Remy as Roman came downstairs, beaming at Virgil.

“Spiderling!” 

Much to the shock of the social worker, Virgil set down his back pack and walked over to Roman, holding up his arms. The nurse picked up the fourteen year old with ease and hugged him tight.

“I missed you.”

“It’s only been five days, seven hours and thirteen minutes.” Virgil said back as Roman put him down, although he still clung close.

The social worker cleared her throat. “You three just need to sign a few papers and then I’ll do monthly check ups to make sure you’re fit to be parents.”

“Thank you.”

…

It wasn’t perfect.

Virgil still held a lot of trauma from what had happened and he had to go to a therapist that wasn’t Emile so that it would be more effective.

But Roman would always admit to crying the first time that Virgil called him Dad. And even though it was mutually agreed that Logan was always going to be Virgil’s real dad and that he wouldn’t have to feel obligated to call any of his adopted parents that, somehow, over the course of the next year, Virgil warmed up to them.

There were always bad times, and they stopped celebrating Christmas, due to the time of year that the accident happened, but they always made it through.

Remy ended up teaching Virgil about latte art, which became a heavy fixation of their son’s, leading to lots of coffees with too much cinnamon when he messed up, or the most glorious cup you had ever seen depending on if it went well.

Emile and Virgil bonded over Saturday morning cartoons and sugary cereal, and he was the first one that Virgil accidentally called Mom.

Emile liked it and so it stuck.

Roman was the one who spent the most time with Virgil and as the teen grew up, he was grateful to have someone that had spent the time to find out everything he could about Logan, making sure that his Dad wasn’t ever forgotten. Roman never broke his promise.

He kept Virgil safe.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos?  
> comments?


End file.
